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Have taste for rum?

A recent tasting of aged rums among several friends got me thinking: Why don’t more people host spirits tastings?

Photo For The Washington Post By Deb LindseyA tasting of spirits is different than a wine tasting; you canât taste as many and you can't spit the samples out; for a rum tasting party, eight is a good sampling.

Given the growing popularity of spirits, I feel like it’s high time for enthusiasts to consider hosting a tasting party this summer. So I’m going to offer tips on how to do just that.

First, a major geek alert: An undertaking like this is for people who have been getting deeper and deeper into the world of spirits and cocktails. Maybe you’ve got a growing collection of bitters and foreign bottles, and have started making special cocktails at home. If this describes you — and there are definitely more and more of us — I can assure you there is no better way to ramp up your knowledge than a comparative tasting around a category or theme.

My most recent rum tasting was a great example. Over the past few years I have collected rums of varying ages, styles and geographic locations. I was interested in how aging affected different rums, so I put together several rounds of tastings, or flights, based on age. Four friends and I tasted from youngest to oldest, taking our time, writing notes and then discussing and debating our thoughts after each flight. 

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NOT A WINE SAMPLING

There are several key differences between a spirits tasting and a wine tasting. The first is how one actually tastes. Unlike at a wine event, where you vigorously swirl the liquid in your glass to release aromas and “open up” the wine, you don’t want to agitate spirits so much. If you vigorously swirl a 100-proof rum or bourbon, all you’re going to get is a face full of alcohol.

Instead, gently twirl the glass, allowing the liquor to coat its sides. For me, the ideal glass for whiskey or rum is a nosing glass that’s bulb-shaped and tapers to a narrow rim.

Next, it’s important to begin with a tiny sip that clears the palate. Follow up with a larger sip that coats the mouth.

This is key: Don’t spit.

The reason you shouldn’t spit is because the finish is so important. Fine spirits should have a long, pleasant, lingering finish — not a hot, kerosene-like burn. Because professional spirits tasters almost never spit, we always sample with much less liquid than we would with wine: about a half-ounce. A taste of wine would be about an ounce.

Another issue with a fine spirits tasting is that the expense can be much greater than that of a wine tasting. To keep costs in check, I’ve chosen to focus on rum for our sample tasting, because rum is comparatively cheaper than whiskey, brandy or tequila. The cost to do this entire tasting is around $250.

4 flights of rum

Here is a suggested rum menu for a tasting. The descriptions, the opinions and the judgments are all up to you.

FLIGHT 1

The two “white” rums selected are actually both lightly aged, then charcoal-filtered to remove the brown barrel color.

1. El Dorado, 3 year old. ($20). Demerara rum from Guyana that has become a bartender favorite for rum cocktails.

2. Banks 5 Island ($26). A blend of 20 or more rums from Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana; contains bit of Batavia arrack, a wild rum from the island of Java made from fermented red rice.

FLIGHT 2

These two rums hail from French-speaking islands and are medium aged.

3. Rhum Clement V.S.O.P. ($39). A rhum agricole from Martinique distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice rather than molasses, as are most other rums.

4. Rhum Barbancourt, 8 year old ($25). Classic rum from Haiti, also made from fresh pressed sugar cane juice.

FLIGHT 3

These two rums approach late middle age. Consider the effect that more than a decade of barrel contact has on the spirit.

5. El Dorado, 12 year old ($30). The older brother of the 3 year old. See what nine more years of aging in whiskey barrels does to this Guyanese favorite.

6. Appleton Estate, 12 year old ($35). From the famed Jamaican distiller, aged in used Jack Daniels barrels.

FLIGHT 4

These rums push the top end of aging. Both are classics — not just in the rum category, but among spirits in general.

7. Rhum Barbancourt Reserve, 15 year old ($37). Compare the difference in this Haitian rum with its eight-year-old little brother from Flight 2.